Mills Blue Rhythm Band (1934)
*** (out of 4)
Vitaphone musical has a group of people seeing various dance and musical acts at a nightclub and then they travel to a party where they see even more. This short from Warner is pretty special for a couple reasons. For one it features an all-black cast, which certainly wasn't the norm back in 1934. It was rather refreshing seeing something that didn't feature blacks in a supporting role or being played by white actors in blackface. Another reason why this short is so special is that we get some great musical numbers including songs by Blues McAllister and Sally Gooding. The dance numbers are very good and come from what we would call swing and jazz. The musical numbers are very well done and you can tell that director Mack put a lot of effort into them.
*** (out of 4)
Vitaphone musical has a group of people seeing various dance and musical acts at a nightclub and then they travel to a party where they see even more. This short from Warner is pretty special for a couple reasons. For one it features an all-black cast, which certainly wasn't the norm back in 1934. It was rather refreshing seeing something that didn't feature blacks in a supporting role or being played by white actors in blackface. Another reason why this short is so special is that we get some great musical numbers including songs by Blues McAllister and Sally Gooding. The dance numbers are very good and come from what we would call swing and jazz. The musical numbers are very well done and you can tell that director Mack put a lot of effort into them.